David is a middle school student. He had lived in a small 1 for fifteen years. It was a small place with only five families living there. His father, Mr. Hill, was a rich farmer and later on he 2a shop in our town. He bought a house here last month. His3moved to the new house and his son began to study in our class. But he had 4 friends here. At first he often played by 5 .
His neighbor Cathy is a kind girl. She has many friends. She finds the boy never talks with anybody and decides to help him. David 6to stay with her and talks to her a lot. Now they're good friends.
One afternoon, Cathy told David, "It'll be my sixteenth birthday tomorrow. I'll have a birthday party. Would you like to come?" " 7. I'm glad to," the boy said happily.
David got home and thought of a 8he could give to Cathy. He was sorry that he 9 to ask the girl what she liked. He couldn't telephone her because he didn't know her 10 . At that moment Mrs. Hill came and asked, "What's the matter, dear?"
"What would you like if it was your sixteenth birthday, Mom?"
"Nothing," the woman said, "I just wish I were sixteen."
O. Henry, a famous American writer of short stories, was born in North Carolina in 1862.
O. Henry was a pen name. His real name was William Sydney Porter. When he was a young boy, he did not go to school for long because of being born in a poor family, but he tried to teach himself everything he needed to know.
When he was about 20 years old, O. Henry went to Texas. There he tried different jobs. He first worked on a newspaper, and then had a job in a bank. But he got himself into some trouble. Some money went missing from the bank. O. Henry was believed to have stolen it, so he was sent to prison(监狱). During the three years in prison, he learned to write short stories. After he got out of prison, he went to New York and went on writing.
He wrote mostly about New York and the life of the poor there. People liked his stories, because almost all of them finished with a sudden change. This made the readers surprised.
Six years ago，Ann graduated(毕业)from college with a degree in Art. Now she is twenty-nine and works for a large computer company. She takes classes twice a week after work. She is learning to use the computer program PowerPoint. "I enjoy the college，but my job doesn't use the information I learned at college，"Ann says. "The course is helping me to do my job better. "
In the past，when students graduated from college and got a job，they usually stopped studying. Today，lifelong learning（终身学习） is becoming more popular. In many countries，some people return to school in their late twenties，thirties，or even older to get a higher degree. More people are taking training courses to improve their working skills after work. People can also get degrees or training through the Internet.
Ann's sixty-year-old mother and father are taking courses in Art and Music. "We love these two subjects. Learning is so much fun. "They say happily，"It's never too old to learn. "
In the middle of a dark forest，there lives an owl (猫头鹰）. All the animals know that he is the wisest among all of them. So they often go to him and tell him their troubles. Then the owl always teaches them what they should do.
One day，a little bird goes up to the owl. She is crying. "What's wrong with you?"asks the owl.
"I'm not happy at all. "I don't want to be a bird," the bird says.
"Why don't you want to be a bird?" asked the owl.
"I am so small，weak and useless，" she cries. "I want to be big and strong like the lion. He
is very important , but I am not."
Then the owl whispers(耳语）something in her ear. At once the bird dries her tears and goes away. One week later, the bird came back. "Oh, thank you very much. You are a very wise owl，" she says to the owl."I am very happy now. Every day，I sit on top of the tallest tree and watch for(监视）lions and tigers. When they come near, I shout at the top of my voice. Then my friend all run and hide. They are very thankful to me. I am useful and important now."
The wise owl smiles and says，"No one in this world is useless. "
